Review: Triplets Under the Tree by Kat Cantrell

Reviewed by Shelly

The cute guy with three kids on the cover suckered sucked me in when I should have been more focused on the blurb. This is a new to me author, and I know the current trend of billionaires is very popular, but I’ve had my fill of heroes who have billions. The last few years’ worth of HQN stories have disappointed, and this was no different.

One thing that completely threw me off once I got into this story was – how did this guy acquire billions, not millions, by opening his own MMA gym? I didn’t realize it was so lucrative.

Antonio Cavallari just made his way from Indonesia back to his home in Florida. He doesn’t remember who he is, much less the three babies he’s just meeting. Caitlyn Hopewell is the sister of Antonio’s wife and she’s also the surrogate to Antonio and his wife’s triplets. The thing is, Caitlyn been in love with her sister’s husband for a long time and now that he’s back, her fantasies and guilt are piling up. Sure they are.

Not only is this a billionaire story, it’s a ‘I’m in love with my sister’s husband’ romance. I abhor these kinds of romances. There are certain things in life that are off limits and sleeping with your sibling’s lover/wife/spouse/partner – whatever you want to call it – is one of them. It’s also the – my plane went down and now I have amnesia and can’t remember anything much less my name. My saving grace was that this is a really short story and went by quickly.

There are quite a few things that I still don’t understand. Remember, this is a contemporary set in today’s time, so I’m expecting things to add up. Antonio’s takes a voyage from Indonesia to America, specifically Florida, without a dime. Really? Even I know that it takes a few pennies to grease the wheel, per se, for that kind of voyage. When he gets to his house, knocks on the door, Caitlyn’s telling him about the children. Wait… what?! Why? The babies weren’t even born when he went missing – why would you do that when Antonio clearly doesn’t even remember his own name?

Then the pièce de ré·sis·tance *SPOILER ALERT* Caitlyn is a virgin who gave birth to triplets. Seriously, that just happened. You’re jealous of your beautiful sister who got the guy you wanted and you agree to be a surrogate for your beautiful sister who got the guy you wanted. Really? Is that how it works? Caitlyn’s such a good person she did that? This reader isn’t that naive.

Then there’s Antonio. Nothing about this guy made sense, nor did I like him. *SPOILER ALERT* while he was married to Caitlyn’s sister he had a revenge affair with a woman who looked just like his wife because the wife was having an affair. How do you come back from that? It’s doable, but it’s hard work. Turns out he didn’t need to do anything because Caitlyn knew she would be a much better wife than her sister was. Argh, spare me!